Going to a Pirates game is a bargain compared to most places and you get a great ballpark experience out of it to boot. Part of the reason it’s such a bargain is that the Pirates haven’t raised ticket prices in nearly ten years. That changes now, though:

The Pirates raised prices on some of their tickets for the 2012 season, the first time they have done so since 2002, the team announced Tuesday. The average price of a ticket will remain one of the lowest in baseball. Seats in the lower level will become more expensive, but the prices will fall on some upper-deck seats.

Dirty secret: the upper deck in PNC Park is one of the few upper decks in newer ballparks that are actually really great seats. In some cases better than the lower decks. This didn’t used to be the case back in the old days because those beams everyone hated held the upper deck up closer to the field. In most newer parks, however, the upper deck is way, way back to accommodate all of the people down in the field boxes.

Anyway, supply and demand. The Pirates sold more seats this year than they had been selling. People want to go to PNC Park. Raising prices a bit just flows from it.

Back in the days before Camden Yards (and, of course, before the Nats), I attended several games at Memorial Stadium. For 6 or 7 bucks, you could get an excellent upper deck seat above and behind one of the dugouts.

I went to Camden Yards once, and sat in the front of the upper deck in left field. About a mile and a half from the plate. For a lot more money. Though that was in the day when the Orioles commonly sold out, before Angelos screwed up the team.

I’m not so sure about that. I know the Pirates have a much more decorated history than my Phillies in terms of World Series trophies (at least I’m pretty sure they do). Either way, this team was a very good team back in the day. It’s only more recent that they’ve been putting out such a bad product because they simply don’t invest any money on the team. It’s sad that they are raising ticket prices, it’s pathetic how poor this ownership has been.